CSS 2.1 builds on CSS2 [CSS2] which builds on CSS1 [CSS1].
It supports media-specific style sheets so that authors may tailor the
presentation of their documents to visual browsers, aural devices,
printers, braille devices, handheld devices, etc. It also supports
content positioning, table layout, features for internationalization
and some properties related to user interface.

CSS 2.1 corrects a few errors in CSS2 (the most important
being a new definition of the height/width of absolutely positioned
elements, more influence for HTML's "style" attribute and a new
calculation of the 'clip' property), and adds a few highly requested
features which have already been widely implemented.
But most of all CSS 2.1
represents a "snapshot" of CSS usage: it consists of all CSS features
that are implemented interoperably at the date of publication of the Recommendation.

CSS 2.1 is derived from and is intended to replace CSS2. Some
parts of CSS2 are unchanged in CSS 2.1, some parts have been
altered, and some parts removed. The removed portions may be used in a
future CSS3 specification. Future specs should refer to CSS 2.1
(unless they need features from CSS2 which have been dropped in
CSS 2.1, and then they should only reference CSS2 for those
features, or preferably reference such feature(s) in the respective
CSS3 Module that includes those feature(s)).

Status of this document

This section describes the status of this document at the time
of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. A
list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this
technical report can be found in the W3C technical reports index at
http://www.w3.org/TR/.

This document has been reviewed by W3C Members, by software
developers, and by other W3C groups and interested parties, and is
endorsed by the Director as a W3C Recommendation. It is a stable
document and may be used as reference material or cited from another
document. W3C's role in making the Recommendation is to draw attention
to the specification and to promote its widespread deployment. This
enhances the functionality and interoperability of the Web.

The (archived)
public mailing list www-style@w3.org (see instructions) is preferred
for discussion of this specification. When sending e-mail, please put
the text “CSS21” in the subject, preferably like
this: “[CSS21] …summary of
comment…”